To many people, the family is the center of their lives. I know a person whose life revolves around her husband and her children. She would work overtime only if her husband would allow her. Another, a jet-flying finance professional internationally, gave up her high-paying job to be a domestic worker in the family home. Still another, childless, has taken on the tasks of caring for her nephews and nieces to goad them to finish their education up to college, and buying all their needs.
I used to make my family the center of my life, that is when I got married. I viewed it as my responsibility to be at home on time, to look after the food that will be cooked per meal, to buy the clothes, etc. But then, my ex- was incarcerated during martial law for political activities and it changed my whole perspectives. I had to take on a good-paying job and then look after my children on a part-time basis. Aside from just having a plain job, I also had to search for a way to get promoted so that I could earn well, like going through training programs that would improve my skills and increase my knowledge. Apart from that, I had to "drink" or "socialize" in order to be in the inner circle of power. Oh how I hated that, simply because I looked at my co-workers then as average, with my friends in the anti-martial law movement as more worthwhile recognizing for their intellect and respecting them for their commitment.
But now under a democratic dispensation, my perspectives have changed again as I look at everyone, regardless of whether they are working for the government or in a non-government organization, or any private entity, with great regard -- that is that they are entitled to respect of their human rights.
And my family, which consists now of my brothers and sisters, my children two of them, a boy and a girl, as well as my distant relatives -- I feel kind of connected with them in a different way. It is both a connection by blood, by intellect and by history. We have shared a lot in the past and can't possibly just cut off our ties. Notice how I don't mention my grandchildren.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Fascination
Passion is an overriding feeling that propels me to exist from day to day. I must have passion for writing, for computing, for singing, for dancing, etcetera. I could go on and on. I realize this only now on my first senior year. Last Sunday, the 12th, I told Joy, "I lost my heart for singing. I can't join the choir now. May I take a vacation. " He replied, "Ok lang, kasi artist ka e." But isn't he one?
Earlier, I told one male member who greeted me at the canteen, "O, kumusta ka na?" I replied, "Heto, hindi ko alam may nagdi-diyos-diyosan pala rito. 'You can't enter the church here,'" I said in a booming voice like a patriarch. Come to think of it, even if a member looks very feminine in nice female clothes, yet her thinking and behavior reveal patriarchal elements. And that is really scary.
Now, with so much time in my hands, as I am not thinking of what to sing every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, wow I had spent three days a week for singing, I am able to plan how to finish the books which I am producing. At the same time, I am able to focus on the real estate issues which my brother and I are working on so as to be able to pay for this house which my mother had pawned and won handily from the former owner through the Supreme Court. I just pray though that we would be granted enough time to work on it.
But my passion now revolves around the US elections. Every early morning I turn on this computer and read the latest news. How I wish I could view the video as well but this laptop is too, too slow. And I am always worried that my internet card would get finished off by waiting, which may now open the page at all, you see.
So Folks, passion is a nice feeling as it keeps me awake and alert to fulfilling my talents, desires and whatever. Happy hunting!
Earlier, I told one male member who greeted me at the canteen, "O, kumusta ka na?" I replied, "Heto, hindi ko alam may nagdi-diyos-diyosan pala rito. 'You can't enter the church here,'" I said in a booming voice like a patriarch. Come to think of it, even if a member looks very feminine in nice female clothes, yet her thinking and behavior reveal patriarchal elements. And that is really scary.
Now, with so much time in my hands, as I am not thinking of what to sing every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, wow I had spent three days a week for singing, I am able to plan how to finish the books which I am producing. At the same time, I am able to focus on the real estate issues which my brother and I are working on so as to be able to pay for this house which my mother had pawned and won handily from the former owner through the Supreme Court. I just pray though that we would be granted enough time to work on it.
But my passion now revolves around the US elections. Every early morning I turn on this computer and read the latest news. How I wish I could view the video as well but this laptop is too, too slow. And I am always worried that my internet card would get finished off by waiting, which may now open the page at all, you see.
So Folks, passion is a nice feeling as it keeps me awake and alert to fulfilling my talents, desires and whatever. Happy hunting!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
After all is said and done
How broad the internet could be. Imagine I could go and read about the US elections going on whether it is in LA or New York. Truly the internet is the best invention of humanity, linking all of us up to know, interpret events that matter to earth and to all of us.
I am able to read about the exercise of that right to vote, the difficult efforts of the Democrats in instilling the need to have a new government, away from warmongers and warhawks who make the work so insecure.
So I am able to read also about the perils of freedom-- freedom that kills individual initiatives to create and be part of a humane society. So democracy is not all bed of roses. It is a constant struggle to know what is best for the majority of the people so that a minority will not be able to ram down our throats those practices that would make them dominate the world.
Where will these all take us? When US is able to pick its president, for good or bad, where will it take the Philippines? We have not really studied our own independence where politics is concerned. We have been tailists, tailing American this way and that. But I think now, our own little voices count, we are being heard as our needs are being told and planned for change.
After the elections, we will check what the Filipino Americans did to bring about a new administration, what they hoped for would be achieved, and what they had done to continue or to close down the mistakes of the past. Also, we need to ask, up to what extent did they participate in the elections to bring about better policies of treating the Filipino people.
I am able to read about the exercise of that right to vote, the difficult efforts of the Democrats in instilling the need to have a new government, away from warmongers and warhawks who make the work so insecure.
So I am able to read also about the perils of freedom-- freedom that kills individual initiatives to create and be part of a humane society. So democracy is not all bed of roses. It is a constant struggle to know what is best for the majority of the people so that a minority will not be able to ram down our throats those practices that would make them dominate the world.
Where will these all take us? When US is able to pick its president, for good or bad, where will it take the Philippines? We have not really studied our own independence where politics is concerned. We have been tailists, tailing American this way and that. But I think now, our own little voices count, we are being heard as our needs are being told and planned for change.
After the elections, we will check what the Filipino Americans did to bring about a new administration, what they hoped for would be achieved, and what they had done to continue or to close down the mistakes of the past. Also, we need to ask, up to what extent did they participate in the elections to bring about better policies of treating the Filipino people.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
US affects Philippine election campaigns
I watch almost everyday the happenings in the US elections to learn how a democratic election, is supposed to be. Every early morning I tune in through the internet on the latest issues confronting the presidential candidates, and scantily their veeps.
What i find is rather revealing of the deep roots of democracy in the US. The issues are really dissected objectively and subjectively, as they are expounded on by the candidates. Questions like, do they treat cursorily or broadly, with sarcasm or wit, etc. The debates are also delved into with great depth -- what is the score of this candidate among which section of the population? Even bar habitues are covered for their answers.
Funds are also tackled to see who is ethically spending the money and for what ads. Are the ads racist, non-racist, and to whom do they appeal? Even jokes that use celebrities parodying the candidates are presented as part of that colorful side of the elections.
What all these show is that assuming a public position is not an easy task for the ordinary folks. The US elections have gone a long way from just being able to point to one picture or one name as the one prefers to lead him or her through four or six years. Rather they are long, tedious and undertakings with complicated processes that perhaps only an elite with plenty of funds can really undertake. For every step along the way, the costs are high --
hiring a fund-raising savvy staff,
hiring an advertising consultant,
hiring a speech writer, -- this one I really do not favour. I do think that politicians should be able to talk from their heads and not through the heads of other people. They may not be able to articulate much their ideas but still that is their duty, to learn how to communicate them in the best possible way -- not only through words but through drawings, paintings, etc.
And this is where I would like campaigns to take a different path. A candidate need not just be able to rattle off ideas in gathering support. One should be able to use other means like the arts to present one's ideas. Ah, if only the public could be less demanding.
What i find is rather revealing of the deep roots of democracy in the US. The issues are really dissected objectively and subjectively, as they are expounded on by the candidates. Questions like, do they treat cursorily or broadly, with sarcasm or wit, etc. The debates are also delved into with great depth -- what is the score of this candidate among which section of the population? Even bar habitues are covered for their answers.
Funds are also tackled to see who is ethically spending the money and for what ads. Are the ads racist, non-racist, and to whom do they appeal? Even jokes that use celebrities parodying the candidates are presented as part of that colorful side of the elections.
What all these show is that assuming a public position is not an easy task for the ordinary folks. The US elections have gone a long way from just being able to point to one picture or one name as the one prefers to lead him or her through four or six years. Rather they are long, tedious and undertakings with complicated processes that perhaps only an elite with plenty of funds can really undertake. For every step along the way, the costs are high --
hiring a fund-raising savvy staff,
hiring an advertising consultant,
hiring a speech writer, -- this one I really do not favour. I do think that politicians should be able to talk from their heads and not through the heads of other people. They may not be able to articulate much their ideas but still that is their duty, to learn how to communicate them in the best possible way -- not only through words but through drawings, paintings, etc.
And this is where I would like campaigns to take a different path. A candidate need not just be able to rattle off ideas in gathering support. One should be able to use other means like the arts to present one's ideas. Ah, if only the public could be less demanding.
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